Principal's Post

Dear Families,

What a fantastic week! Alongside a full schedule of sporting activities, we were delighted to host our second Prep transition session. It was wonderful welcoming our new families and seeing our 2027 Preps start to feel right at home. To further support their transition, our Prep teachers will be visiting local kindergartens over the coming weeks.

A big congratulations to our volleyball teams for their incredible effort on Friday, with special applause to our boys’ team for securing 2nd place! Congratulations also go to our cricket team for their great achievement on Friday as well, just being defeated in the grand final by 3 runs.

Good Luck to our Basketballers on Tuesday at Dandenong in the Regional finals. The team earned this following their win in the Division Grand Final.

With a busy two months ahead of us, please take some time to diarise the important dates on our 2026 Dates page, noting two slight changes to past times. Our twilight sports will now be an Afternoon Sports Day at St James on Thursday 12 November from 12pm - 3pm. Our Whole School St James Thanksgiving Mass will be held on Friday 4th December at 9am to facilitate greater participation from students. Parents and families are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Bunnings BBQ Thank You and Wrap Up

Thanks to the team of volunteers led by Daniel who worked on the Bunnings BBQ Stall on Saturday. We raised over $1,300 for our P & F Funds. This takes the total for the two Bunnings BBQs this year to over $2, 600. These funds will all be directed towards the astro turf grass surface on the lower area next to the Adventure Playground.

Thanks Dan Savoir, Jason Barrie, David Unkles, Dan Moylan, Graham Dawson, Lendl D'Lima, Kristen Minogue, Chris Harvey, Ash Holmes, Matt Holmes and others who helped.

Another brilliant St James community effort!

Swimming & Water Safety

Our Prep to Yr 4 Swimming Program will begin on Monday 16th November to Friday 27th November. This will be a nine day program due to the School Closure day on Friday 20th November. Further details for swimming will be shared with parents via nForma this week.

Our Water Safety Program for our Year 5s will take place on Monday 23rd November and for our Year 6s on Thursday 26th November. Further information to follow.

Parish Fete Raffle Tickets

If everyone sells their raffle ticket book, St James will raise over $3,500 towards the new artificial surface for the grasses/mud/weed area near the adventure playground. 75% of all ticket sales comes back to our P & F and will contribute towards the cost, enabling this project to move closer towards commencement.

All books are required to be returned by this Friday 30 October. Thank you to the 40% of families who have returned their tickets so far.

Early bird entries will go into a draw to win a $50 gift card to be drawn this Fri 30th October, so get your tickets back quickly to be in with a chance to win! The first draw was won by the Banks Smith family.

Parish Fete Items for Every Family to Tick Off

return raffle tickets
send along a large block of chocolate for the lob a choc stall
send along a bag of lollies for the lolly stall
sign up for a shift working at the fete (each family is expected to contribute some time to supporting the fete)

Staffing News 2027

After seven years at St James, Jo Booth has decided to retire at the end of the year. Jo has assisted numerous students with literacy learning as they have moved through the junior school. We have loved having Jo as part of St James team, will miss her commitment to the students, Rocky Road for morning tea and her calm, warm ways.

We have employed Ruby Slaughter to replace Dani Heffernan in 2027 while Dani will be on maternity leave.

Eileen Dalton who only joined our team this year as a LSO is moving on to another school for 2027. We loved having Eileen as part of the team and wish her the best luck.

School Advisory Council

At our School Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday 20 October, the team met with our Literacy Leader Katie Schroeder to review the school's strong literacy results and the positive impact of evidence-based teaching practices on student learning and engagement.

Discussions also focused on 2027 school fees, staffing and budget planning, with a continued commitment to maintaining quality education and minimising the financial impact on families. A letter outlining the 2027 fees will shared later this week. Members were pleased to hear that plans for the new synthetic grass play area are progressing, supported by the generous fundraising efforts of our Parents and Friends.

We will have two positions available with Sarah Dowds and Jason Barrie finishing up at the end of the year. If you are interested in joining the SAC please speak to our chair, Melissa Mackellin or any current SACmember, and then email myself with your interest.

2026 School Fee Payment

This is a reminder to families who are not on a payment plan via direct debit, that all the account was due to be fully paid by the end of Term Three.

Fete Colouring Competition

Coloring competition sheets are now available! Age categories include Kinder & Prep, Years 1 & 2, Years 3 & 4, and Year 5 & 6 and beyond. Teachers will distribute the appropriate sheet to their students in class, and extra copies for all other categories can be collected from the Admin Office.

AFL Footy

We are pleased to announce that the AFL will be running an AFL Superkick program at St James in Term 4. Please register now if you want to partake - https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/6f5847

ST JAMES VERMONT PS SUPERKICK CENTRE

Season Dates:

Wednesday 4th November 3:40pm - 4:40pm

Wednesday 11th November 3:40pm - 4:40pm

Wednesday 18th November 3:40pm - 4:40pm

Wednesday 25th November 3:40pm - 4:40pm

The St James Vermont PS Superkick Centre is open for those who are in Prep through to Grade 6. As part of your registration for the program, participants will also receive a FREE football valued at $30. The cost of the program is $55.

We have on offer both a Mixed group and an ALL Girls Group (if numbers allow)!

Participants can register for the 4 week program either via the link below or via the QR code attached to the flyer. Register here now:

https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/6f5847

Child Safe Standards

With the importance and commitment that we place on student safety as a school system, please take the time to read and familiarise yourself with the information in the Child Safe Standard Eight Parent/Carer Newsletter.

A Parley of Principals

The last 25 years of St James Principals caught up by coincidence at a friends birthday celebration last week - Anonda Le Messurier, Andrew Mullaly and me. It was nice to update them on current happenings at St James.

St John's Fete - 21st November

St Johns Fete is fastly approaching. We are looking for volunteers to help make this event a success. Please refer to the St John's Fete page.

MACSeye Outside School Hours Care

Lea, our wonderful MACSeye coordinator would like to kindly remind families that other than the newsletter, she communicates important or exciting information via the playground app. It would be great for families to turn on notifications or to ensure they are checking it so they don’t miss out!

Have a great week,

Dave